By Cassidy Dover: "Losing Family"

Cassidy Dover wrote this today after hearing about the death of Gabrielle Schoeneweis.

"Losing Family"

You don’t know everyone person in baseball. Even if you’re husband has played with someone this doesn’t mean you’ve necessarily met their wife.

Yesterday Sheridan and I had taken a nap. We had a busy morning or activities and we were both really tired. As we were walking into our apartment from leaving Ray at the field a friend called. I hadn’t talked to her in a while. I decided not to answer the phone, I had a sleeping Sheridan in my arms and was going to take advantage of a quiet hour or so to rest myself. I’d call her back.

I woke up and realized I had 5 missed alerts. This was an odd time to hear from people. I listened to the messages, knowing one was my friend who had called earlier. "I don’t know if you ever knew…" her message went on tell me about the death of Gabby Schoeneweis. I was absolutely numb.

Did I know her? No. I have a close friend who was her close friend. I have friends who played with them in any one of the six cities that Scott has played his career. Personally, no, we were not friends. Did that change that pit in my stomach for her, for her husband, for their four children? No.

I immediately thought of how horrible it must have been for her husband, Scott, to be on the road and to hear about this. I thought of their children who would now grow up without a mother. I got online to try to find out what happened. The police don’t know. No one knows.

I had received emails from other wives. We are trying to decide if there is anything we can do for the family. How we can send our condolences to a family who have lost their heart. How we can honor a woman who many of us may not know personally but who is a part of our family? The sentiments we have all shared have ranged from "My heart and prayers go out to the family" to "I didn’t even know her but I can’t stop thinking of how horrible this must be for them all" to "She was an amazing woman and dedicated mother". We are all reminded to hug our children and tell those we love how much we love them because you can NEVER know what can happen.

Being a baseball wife does not take away the pain or suddenly make something tragic easier to understand. Our community, our family, has lost an important family member. I may not have known her personally, yet each member of each family is an important blessing.

I pray for Gabby and for her family. The Schoeneweis family has an amazing Guardian Angel looking down on them now. May they each find peace and comfort in this time of mourning.

Thanks for Reading,
Cassidy

Cassidy Dover has been a baseball wife for more than 10 years.  Her husband Ray, currently in the minor leagues, has spent part of 7 seaons in The Show.  Cassidy lives somewhere in America with her daughter Sheridan.  Right now, they're probably waiting for Ray to come home.